


The Assassin Who Wants to Be a Hero

by HowShouldIKnowboutLife



Category: Assassination Classroom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mineta Minoru Doesn't Exist, Crossover, Gen, Work In Progress, also i took out Satou to make room for Shinsou, but its fanfic so who really cares?, half of what i write here wont even be canon to my own story lol, i do have a quirk explanation for korosensei, i will admit its been a while since ive read either manga, i would like to know what yall think tho, im just writing whatever comes to mind and hoping it comes together eventually, im sorry :(, it kept the numbers even, just made of pure snippets, many snippets, on pause while i re-acquiant myself with the characters, quirkless shiota nagisa, so some things will be out of order or just plain noncanonical, villain-raised shiota nagisa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2019-10-13 18:58:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17493446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowShouldIKnowboutLife/pseuds/HowShouldIKnowboutLife
Summary: Shiota Nagisa becomes the first ever quirkless student to be enrolled in the UA Hero Course. Everyone is amazed at his abilites! It's too bad he doesn't know how to tell them half of his skills are a government secret, and the other half were taught by his villain parents. Plus Ultra, Nagisa!--- On pause while I re-acquaint myself with the character (aka reread/rewatch assclass and bnha), not abandoned!!! ---





	1. Introducing Nagisa - the hero hopeful

There were whispers. They travelled through every department in the school, though they only involved one of the hero course students.

 _Quirkless_ , the whispers said.

_Born from villains._

_A natural killer._

People would stare at the hero students with a mixture of fear, revulsion and morbid curiosity as they walked through the hallways. Not that any of the hero students really knew why…

They all knew the attention was directed towards Shiota Nagisa, but they couldn't understand everyone's fear of him. Yes, the boy was quirkless - he freely admitted it himself; it was an impressive feat. And yeah, he was incredible during training - he had to be to keep up with them all; he attributed it to doing a variety of sports in middle school. But none of that justified why others were so wary of him.

He didn't talk about his past much, other than a few stories about his friends from middle school, so it's not like they could say whether his parents really were villains or not. And honestly, class 1-A didn't like to think about things like that. They've met enough villains (and Bakugou) to know that it's your actions now that prove you a hero or villain, and Nagisa has shown them nothing but kind smiles and a clever determination toward reaching his goals. Not exactly what one thinks when they imagine "villain".

<><><><>

Nagisa flipped in the air and landed solidly on the balls of his feet, the blunted knife in his right hand slashing where he predicted Hagakure to be.

"Ouch!!"

He grinned and launched himself in the direction of the exclamation. He wrapped his arms around the body and they both fell to the ground. With an expert maneuver he flipped the girl on her stomach and used the rope at his belt to tie her hands together.

Before he could tie her feet, a fast-moving arm knocked him to the floor and ran to release Hagakure.

Nagisa pushed himself up and walked calmly towards his opponents. He kept the knife in his belt and his bloodlust hidden with a sweet smile. As Iida was finishing up setting Hagakure on her feet, he looked up to see Nagisa only 2 feet away. He tensed, ready to run, but Nagisa moved faster. His knives were out and pressed to both his enemies' necks in the time it took to blink. With the next blink he pulled his knives back to himself, slashing lightly across Hagakure and Iida's throats.

"Enough!" Aizawa's voice rang out across the gym. Nagisa immediately stepped away and went for his water bottle at the edge of the training area. He was aware of Iida and Hagakure doing the same.

"Alright, who can tell me what they did wrong?" Aizawa addressed their classmates standing nearby.

\- Nagisa unnecessarily used energy and time by flipping  
\- Iida wasted time doing large running maneuvers rather than standing by and supporting his partner  
\- Hagakure spoke and remained close to the enemy, moving in predictable patterns, all of which allowed her to be captured  
\- Nagisa also "killed" his opponents which, uh, isn't a heroic thing…

"Precisely. Nagisa," Aizawa turned to him. "You are a hero. Heroes don't kill, understood?"

"Understood, Sensei." Nagisa bowed, shame coloring his cheeks. Old habits may die hard but they most certainly needed to die if he wanted to be a hero.

He went to stand next to Ashido and Bakugou, while Sero, Ojirou, and Sato went into the training area and began their fight.

"Tch. If they couldn't dodge, then they shouldn't get mad at you for killing them. It's their fault they aren't good enough." Bakugou crossed his arms, keeping his eyes on the fight as he spoke.

"Ahh, I suppose," Nagisa brought a hand up to his neck. "But Aizawa-sensei does have a point; heroes don't kill people, villains do."

"Heroes kill people by accident or self-defense all the time, it's not like it doesn't happen. And who gives a shit if some two-bit villains bite the dust. They're villains for a reason."

"Bakugou! That's terrible!" Ashido turned to him with a frown. "Even if it happens sometimes, the whole goal is for it to not happen. Ever. Even to villains. If it was okay to kill villains then we wouldn't have prisons!" She moved closer to Bakugou with every sentence until she was practically leaning on his shoulder.

"Tch, fine, whatever. Get the fuck off of me Alien Chick."

"It's Alien Queen!"

"Hmph."

Nagisa chuckled a bit at their argument before focusing on his earlier fight. Though his first instinct was to go for the kill, Ashido and Aizawa were right: killing is a last resort only. People didn't want their heroes coated in blood. Nagisa considers getting that tattooed on him somewhere; he seemed to keep forgetting it.


	2. Flashback: Young Nagisa at Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of graphic description of violence done hypothetically to a child (aka spoken as a threat), and also a mention of body paralyzing drugs used on a child. Both are between "Do you know what will happen to you..." and "He shook his head so hard his whole body moved." It's only a couple of lines and they arent really needed to get the gist of what was said - feel free to skip!

"Stand up straight, Nagisa! We want to make a good impression!"

"Yes, Mother." Nagisa straightened his back, hiding a wince as the tight dress squeezed his ribs.

"Now, the men will be here in 20 minutes. Tell me what our goals are." She finally stopped running around straightening the house in order to pierce Nagisa with an evaluating look. She was testing him.

"They're going to come in to speak to the master of the house and we're supposed to say that he isn't here right now, but he just went to the store and he'll be right back and do they want to stay to wait for him. While we serve them we want to get their guard down and make them friendly so we can ask them about their boss and steal their wallets and phones for information. We can't get caught."

"That's right." She leans in close to him. "Do you know what will happen to you if they catch you stealing from them?"

Nagisa's heart pounds faster at the look on her face, remembering her temper and the drugs that paralyze his body.

"If these men catch you with your hands in their pockets, they're going to hurt you. They're going to make it so you don't have fingers anymore, and when you can't grab anything, they'll put their hands on your throat and kill you slowly, watching you struggle the whole time. Do you want that, Nagisa?"

He shook his head so hard his whole body moved.

She smiled, all teeth and ugly intentions. "I didn't think so. So we're going to be good little girls for these nice, dangerous men, aren't we, hmm?"

Nagisa nodded and made sure his hands were folded in front of him in the delicate way Mother had told him girls stood.

"Good."

The doorbell rings.

"Ah! That'll be them! Nagisa, go answer the door, you know what to do."

Taking as deep a breath as the tight yellow dress would allow, he walked to the front door and opened it for the three muscular men beyond. It took a second for them to look down far enough to see the short ten-year-old.

"Uhm, can I help you?" he made sure his voice was at the proper falsetto and his eyes looked through his lashes, just like his mother taught him. _Innocence is a tool few can properly take advantage of, so use it while you can, Nagisa._

"Well hey there little lady, is your daddy home?" The man on the right knelt down and gave a small smile. He seemed nice, but Nagisa knew that he was probably covered in blood. The kind that can't be seen but would never wash off. Most people he met were. Even his mom and dad were blood-stained, and he was sure he'd join them soon enough.

"He's at the store, do you need him right now?"

"Tch, of course he is. Coward probably ran off when he caught wind that we were coming," a man with a scarred face sneered.

"Do you think we should go after him?" said the man beside him.

"Hmm… it would be hard to figure out which direction he went, though…"

"Uhm, sirs," Nagisa interrupted the two still standing. "I'm sure he's gunna be back soon. Mommy said he was just going to grab some tea and cakes for me and her and he would be right back. If you need to talk to him you can sit inside and wait with us?"

The three men looked at each other in silent conversation before the one who called Nagisa's dad a coward nodded decisively. The kneeling man smiled gently at Nagisa, "I think we will do that thank you, little lady."

Nagisa hurriedly opened the door wider and let the men into the house.

"Nagisa, dear, who's at the door?" his mom called from the kitchen.

"Just some men who wanted to talk to daddy."

Shiota Hiromi walked into the front room to greet the guests.

{{blah blah they end up successfully stealing from the men, nagisa got bruises from the dress being too tight, dad finally came back and gave the men the money(?) they were looking for and the men leave without their wallets or cell phones which the shiota family end up searching thru and ultimately giving over to their villain gang boss i guess}}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!


	3. USJ Trip, Pre-Villain Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Nagisa wants to keep secrets, then he should really not daydream and let his body go into auto-attack mode.

Kirishima yawned, "Why do we always have to be up so early?"

"You would not be having a problem with your rest levels if you had gone to bed at an appropriate time Kirishima-kun!" Iida's voice boomed in the quiet of the early morning and half the class winced. Kirishima wasn't the only one wishing to go back to bed.

The class shuffled onto the waiting bus. A short trip later and they were all congregating in the front area of the USJ. Hero Thirteen was already there and they and Aizawa started laying out the plan for the day.

They were going to split the students up into groups of three, chosen by lots. Nagisa ended up in a group with Todoroki and Sero, and he went to go stand by them. 

As the other teams were called he zoned out, trying to think of strategies they could use in the different environments of the USJ. In the background he could hear yelling and people being loud, but he didn't focus on it. It was probably just Bakugou anyway. Nagisa got lost in his thoughts.

_If Todoroki made some spikes out of ice, Sero could wrap them in his tape and have some makeshift weapons - though if they were in a fire that probably wouldn't work. Todoroki could make platforms for Nagisa to climb and gain a vantage point on their opponents in a barren area, and Sero could always use those same platforms as maneuverability points. Maybe in a pinch Nagisa could even get Todoroki to create a distraction with his fire and sneak up on the villains. Or maybe even getting Todoroki to burn some of Sero's tape would make some smoke…_

Something long flew past in Nagisa's periphery, and on instinct Nagisa was pulling his guns out and aiming at the tentacles, shooting around the crowd of students. He ran to the side as he shot, planning on ducking behind the corner of the closest building so Koro-sensei wouldn't focus on him as much, when he realized the rest of the class wasn't moving to attack the tentacles like they should.

He stopped running and lowered his guns. He saw heroes-in-training not young assassins. Blinking he looked to the ground where long strips of Aizawa's capture weapon laid on the ground. _Oh._ Those must have been the "tentacles" he saw.

Nagisa bit his lip and holstered his guns. "Ehh heh heh… sorry about that." He gave a sheepish smile and walked back to his group. Everyone was still staring at him.

"What the hell was that Shiota?" Aizawa continued to stare at Nagisa in complete (but well hidden) bafflement.

"Uh, nothing, sorry. I was just spaced out and I reacted on instinct. It won't happen again."

"I'm not worried about it happening again, I want to know what the hell you were thinking." Aizawa crossed his arms and stared more sternly at Nagisa. "This isn't the first time you've seen me use my capture weapon in class, so clearly you don't have a problem with it. Why the sudden murderous rage this morning?"

Nagisa pressed his lips together. He wasn't really ready to get into his past and the whole being-trained-as-an-assassin-by-a-multi-quirk-enhanced-teacher-who-he-was-taught-to-kill thing. It was a lot to explain and no one would understand it. Plus, the loss of Koro-sensei still stung when he thought about it too long.

"Well? We're waiting on an explanation Shiota; get on with it."

"Uhm, well. I'm guess I’m just used to having to go after possible threats, and since I wasn't paying enough attention, the capture weapon looked like, uh… a dangerous quirk. My body just moved on its own." Nagisa shrugged and looked up at Aizawa through his lashes, just like his mom taught him. "Nobody got hurt, right? I wasn't aiming for any of the students."

Aizawa's stare was intense, like he was trying to unravel all of Nagisa's secrets with just a look. Nagisa continued to stand in the most submissive and innocent way he knew how, just waiting for the attention to be off of him. He really wasn't used to being in the spotlight and it went against every stealthy instinct he had to just stand in front of everyone's stares and wait to be judged.

At last, Aizawa huffed a breath and looked away. "Fine. Just pay more attention to your surroundings." He went back to explaining the teams and their assigned zones with Thirteen and Nagisa could feel the stares of the other students slip away as well. He wilted with relief. Another close escape from explaining his past to the others. But another level added to their curiosity and suspicion.

One day he would have to spill all his secrets, and he's not sure if the friends he's made here will last through that.

A hand on his shoulder had Nagisa jumping, a hand moving to his weapons at his hip as he turned. Todoroki took his hand back immediately and held it up in surrender.

"Are you alright, Nagisa?"

Nagisa forced a smile, "Yeah, sorry! I must've woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning - I'm a bit jumpy." Todoroki looked like wanted to say something but Nagisa didn't give him a chance, "Anyway, I was thinking earlier of some things we could do during a fight. Maybe if you and Sero get together you could burn some tape and make some kind of smoke as a distraction? Or maybe-"

"Hey, dude," Sero cut in. "We get that you don't wanna talk about it. It's cool! Just… y'know, if you ever do wanna chat, we're here." Todoroki nodded in agreement.

Nagisa's smile became more real. "Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Maybe some other time though."

Sero grinned, "Yeah! We have a battle to win!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!
> 
> Why did they give Nagisa a gun? Idk. They're probly bb guns anyway, just with some harder hitting ammo, like he's used to.


	4. Notebook Buddies

"Whatcha writing there Nagisa?" Uraraka peered over his shoulder at the small pocket-sized notebook he had out.

"Oh, nothing much, just some general notes."

"'Gets flustered when given compliments, usually responds with yelling and possibly violence'," she read. "Are those notes on Bakugou?"

"Ehh heh heh, some of them are. It's a habit I picked up in middle school: to write down the weaknesses of the people around me that I may have to fight. I guess it kinda carried over into high school too." Nagisa shrugged. "I know it’s a little weird but-"

"Oh no! Not at all!" Uraraka exclaimed. "Deku actually does something very similar! Have you seen his hero analysis notebooks? They apparently have a bunch of info on our strengths and weaknesses and quirks and stuff. He writes in them all the time, though Aizawa has told him to stop because they can be used against him if a villain gets at them."

At that moment, the boy himself walked past Nagisa's desk, catching the last bit of their conversation. "What can be used against who by a villain?" Midoriya's face was a strange combination of curious and concerned.

Uraraka giggled. "Your notebooks!"

Color flooded Midoriya's face. "Ah, right, those."

"The topic came up because I noticed Nagisa here doing a really similar thing in _his_ notebook."

"Oh?" Midoriya looked at Nagisa with interest. "You keep strategy notebooks? Can I see?"

Uraraka giggled again at his fascination.

"Uhm, I guess… Sure." Nagisa flipped his notepad closed and handed it over. There wasn't anything incriminating in it, just a lot of weaknesses and habits of those around him. He started the practice with Korosensei and it had just stuck afterwards. It was a pretty handy skill, being able to look at others and assess their weakest points.

Midoriya was flipping through his notes quickly, muttering up a storm.

Uraraka gave a little wave to Nagisa, who smiled in return, and moved back to her desk.

"Nagisa!" Midoriya closed the notepad with a snap, and looked up, a fierce look in his eyes. "This was amazing to read! Do you want to come see my notebooks and we can think of more things to add to our notes?"

"Pfft…" A snort came from behind Midoriya. Bakugou rolled his eyes, "You nerds are really gunna spend a day writing stupid notes instead of practicing being better heroes? Yeah, good idea, Deku."

Midoriya spluttered for a second, trying to come up with a good response. Before he could, though, Nagisa looked around Midoriya at Bakugou and gave a smile that really should not have activated Bakugou's fight or flight response the way it did. "Being skilled at strategizing and studying opponents' weaknesses while figuring out ways to exploit them is just as much a part of hero work as being able to punch someone's teeth out. If you really think they're stupid notes, perhaps we should put it to the test."

Bakugou raised a brow, "A test? How are you gunna test your notebooks against my explosions? Usually that doesn't work out so well." He smirked and threw a quick glance at Midoriya, who clutched the notes a bit tighter.

"How about I spend tonight studying Midoriya's notebooks on you, and then tomorrow after class we head to the gym and do a little combat training. If you win against my prior knowledge, then I will concede that you are correct and do one thing you ask. If I'm correct, then you have to do the same. Sound fair?"

Nagisa's eyes were glinting in a way that belied the innocence of his smile. He was fully confident in his challenge. Well, Bakugou couldn't have that. He was the best, and no challenge was too much for him. He nodded to Nagisa. "4pm, the second gym, bring a witness."

"Will do." And with a final flash of his sweet smile, Nagisa turned around and grabbed his notebook, putting all his things away before Aizawa shuffled into the classroom.

Nagisa had an assassination to plan. This was going to be fun…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!


	5. Are We Going to Rescue Bakugou, Or What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah.... I'm just writing whatever comes to mind, whether it's fully thought out or not lol 
> 
> Enjoy!

Surprisingly, when Bakugou was kidnapped by the league of villains, the first person to suggest a rescue was Nagisa.

Midoriya had been about to broach the topic to Kirishima and Todoroki when Nagisa walked in wearing a combat uniform.

He blinked at the three of them. "Why aren't you packed yet? We're going to go save him aren't we?"

His classmates stared at him.

"What did you say?"

"I asked why you weren't packed and ready to go yet. We're going after Bakugou, you need to wear stealth clothes and possibly disguises. We need to leave soon if we want to go before the teachers figure out we're gone."

"Hold on," Todoroki said. "We don’t even know where he is."

"That's easy: I called an old classmate of mine and they found where they're hiding him." Nagisa held up his phone and showed them a tracking map, a glowing dot showing up in the Kamino district. "He's here. If we hurry we can catch the train before they shut down for the night and get him back."

A new voice spoke from behind him, "And what exactly is your plan for getting in and out undetected and unharmed?"

Nagisa turned and saw Aizawa standing behind him, arms crossed and expression unamused. 

"Umm…"

Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

"Well," Nagisa took a deep breath. "From the same friend who found Bakugou, I gained a blueprint of the warehouse they're hiding him in. I have some gadgets which can help me detect how many people are in the building and where they're all located. My plan was, using disguises and stealth, sneak in through a back window, silently incapacitate any stragglers, and once we reached the area where the most people are, from the vents release a gas to hinder their vision and possibly induce unconsciousness. While they're distracted, the ones on the ground will go in and incapacitate the separated villains, while one person frees Bakugou and gives the signal to retreat. Then we run away as quickly as we can, possibly still under the cover of a gas cloud."

Aizawa huffed. "First off, that's not undetected _or_ unharmed. Second, do you have enough of those gadgets for the three students you are trying to take with you, one of whom is injured? Third, you don’t know how many villains are going to be in there or what their quirks are, nor what they're resistant to as far as your knockout gas goes. Plus, your strategy relies on being able to take out these villains, many of whom we have faced before and been unable to subdue, which is already bad odds. Fourth, that's a shitty exit strategy if ever I heard one. You also give no thought to what to do if you run out of rope or the villains wake up before you're ready."

The students behind Nagisa looked cowed in the face of Aizawa's counterargument, but Nagisa wasn't backing down.

{{NEEDS TO BE CONT.}}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!


	6. The Exposition Dump that Aizawa Asked For, But Wasn't Sure He Actually Wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa gets fed up with secrets and meets Karasuma, who very helpfully sums up the entire AssClass series in as few words as I could make sound good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like this part, but at the same time I already know I'm going to scrap it so like, have fun reading! But it's not au canon anymore lol

Aizawa walked into the Japanese Department of Defense building, head half-hidden in his scarf. He walked to the reception desk, where a cheery young man asked if he needed any help.

"I'm looking to speak to Karasuma."

"Do you have an appointment with him?"

"No, but tell him it concerns one of the students from Kunigigaoka Middle School. He'll likely want to talk to me."

"Alright. And your name, sir?"

"Aizawa."

The receptionist nodded and dialed the number. He gave Aizawa's message, nodded a few times, then hung up.

"Karasuma said he's free to speak with you. Go ahead and take the left hand elevators up to the 32nd floor."

"Thank you." Aizawa did as instructed. When he arrived on the right floor, a man stood in the hallway waiting for him.

"Are you Aizawa?" the man asked.

He nodded.

"I'm Karasuma Tadaomi, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. I'm here to talk to you about a former student of yours--"

"Right," he cut in. "Let's take this somewhere more private. Please," he gestured. "Let's talk more in my office."

\---

Karasuma closed the door behind them and moved to sit at his desk. "Now, what is it you wanted to talk about?" 

Aizawa took a seat. "As you may or may not know, I'm a heroics teacher at UA and this year we had a late transfer student who has proved … interesting. He's got a shoot first, ask questions later attitude towards heroics, a surprising amount of combat training for a quirkless boy, and more secrets than Pandora's Box. I'm not usually one to pry, but Shiota Nagisa's secrets are getting in the way of my teaching and I don’t stand for that."

Karasuma sighed and muttered to himself, "Of course Nagisa went into heroics… That doesn't surprise me at all." He shook his head. "There is very little about the situation at Kunigigaoka Middle School that I can discuss with you, and what I can tell you won't be more than you could look up yourself. The situation there was top secret, with the highest level of government clearance--"

"I'm a Pro Hero, I have government clearance."

He blinked. "Oh, well if you don't mind, may I look at your license?"

Aizawa acquiesced. Karasuma checked the license against something on his computer, nodded, and gave the ID back to Aizawa.

"My list shows you as one of the few who are allowed access to the Kunigigaoka case, so I will do my best to answer any question you have."

"Great… So what is the Kunigigaoka case?"

"It will take some time to give you the full context, I apologize. 7 years ago the government more fully learned the abilities of the villain known as 'All For One' after his disastrous battle with All Might. For years they brainstormed what to do about him. They ultimately decided that in order to fight a villain with multiple quirks, they would need a hero with multiple quirks. It would take too long and be too unpredictable to try and genetically induce multiple quirks in someone, so they decided to just build multiple quirks into someone instead."

"You mean like a Nomu?"

"Well, actually, yes, I suppose it was rather similar to that, but the participants were willing and it was conducted with extreme caution and scientific procedure. They first tried to see if they could introduce quirks into animals. They added two quirks strands into a mouse in a moon-based lab, and the initial tests went well. They decided to move onto human subjects."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "Human subjects?"

"Yes. They chose a recently captured prisoner with a premonition quirk and asked if he would like to participate in their experiments. He agreed and became the main subject. They managed to add in him a speed quirk which gave him the ability to move at Mach 20 speed, and a mutation-type quirk which allowed tentacles to be created from the subject's body. They ran many tests and introduced the quirks slowly, allowing his body to adjust to the change. The results were quite positive."

"Until?"

"Until the quirk-mouse exploded and took 70% of the moon with it."

He paused in his story and Aizawa made the logical leap from 'mouse with added quirks explodes a moon' to 'person with added quirks could explode the planet'. "Ah. I see…"

"Yes. The lab worried about the consequences of their actions and in the midst of their attempt to shut everything down and end the experiment, the lab was attacked. It wasn’t the target of a villain but a nearby fight had made enough debris fly about that the building was hit and caused a few explosions. The subject's mutation quirk overreacted and while it protected him from the chaos, his body was completely transformed into some kind of yellow octopus type of thing." Karasuma turned and grabbed a thick file from the cabinet behind him. He set it between them and turned to the profile on Korosensei. He handed the picture to Aizawa.

He raised his eyebrows a bit but otherwise showed no expression. He replaced the picture. "So what does all this have to do with Kunigigaoka Middle School and Shiota Nagisa?"

"I'm getting to that. One of the assistants at the lab had a second job as a teacher at Kunigigaoka. She apparently made friends with the subject and inspired him so much that when she died in the attack, he decided to take up her spot teaching the quirkless students of Kunigigaoka Middle School. The government allowed this on one condition: the students be tasked with killing him before the end of the year, when it was estimated that he would explode."

Aizawa looked disbelieving. "The government tasked regular middle schoolers with assassination? And they thought it would work?"

"Actually, the task was open to any assassin who wanted to try, but since the students would be in such close contact with the target, they decided that it would be acceptable."

Karasuma paused for Aizawa to make another comment, but the teacher merely waited for him to finish his explanation. There was an edge to his expression, though, that suggested if the story didn't start making sense soon, a few government officials would be getting a visit from a very angry teacher.

"Ahem. The subject was actually a former assassin himself, as well as a genius prodigy in many areas, and he took great pleasure in the chance to teach students how to kill him. I was assigned to watch over the class and help guide their assassin training." Karasuma took a moment to collect his thoughts. It wasn't necessary, but he felt the need to make Aizawa understand how good this situation was for the students. "I understand that it sounds horrible, teaching children to kill--"

"You think?" Aizawa was starting to look visibly angry.

"But! Korosensei - as he was dubbed - took a classroom of students who had had it all but beaten into them that they were quirkless and worthless and dumb, and he made them the most confident, top scoring students in the entire academy. Not a single one of those students regret that year, and I guarantee all of them graduated with a sense of self-assuredness that many adults fail to ever gain." Karasuma watched the man in front of him relax minutely. "Yes, we taught the students how to kill, but that's not really what they learned."

"Except for Shiota Nagisa…"

Karasuma opened his mouth to retort, but closed it without saying anything. "Nagisa was a special case."

"Of course he was."

"Nagisa is a natural assassin. He has a way of hiding his bloodlust behind an innocent smile that throws every opponent off. He moves like a snake, all grace and confidence, unassuming until he strikes. In many ways he was the top student of that class. It was him that the class chose to deal the killing strike to Korosensei in the end."

"Wait, he's actually killed someone?"

Karasuma met Aizawa's eyes, "Yes. The only one in the class. And I personally suspect that Korosensei wasn't even his first kill - just the one that meant the most to him."

The teacher's face grew dark, "And what makes you suspect that?"

"I've met the boy's mother. She didn't exactly make his home a healthy environment, and when I looked her up I found she has a criminal record and a history of gang violence. It wouldn't surprise me to learn she inducted him into that life early."

Aizawa took all of that in. It certainly explained Shiota's instinct to kill first rather than subdue. It also explained his reluctance to say anything about his past: he grew up around villains and then in school he was sworn to government secrecy. If Aizawa were him, he wouldn't want to say much either.

"Is there anything else I can answer for you?" Karasuma understood how much it was to take in; even for a pro hero it was an unusual situation. Plus, he wanted Nagisa to get as much support as he can, and having a teacher who understood his strange history was a great step.

He took a moment to think… "Besides how to kill, what else has Shiota learned?"

"Ah, well later on in the year we gained another teacher named Irina Jelavich and she taught the class languages as well as finer subterfuge arts like etiquette and seduction."

"Seduction?"

Karasuma had the decency to look a bit sheepish at this, "Mmhmm. Yes, she taught the class how to use appearance and well, kissing, as a weapon and infiltration tool. I would be willing to bet those students know more about sex than most adults."

"That seems rather inappropriate to be teaching kids."

"To be fair, she never claimed to be a good teacher…"

Aizawa just glared at him.

He sighed, "Yes, I know, I understand your concern. Unfortunately, what's done is done. We can't take back that knowledge now."

"Ok fine," Aizawa gave a matching sigh. "Is there anything else I should know?" He recalled the way Nagisa had so quickly prepared to rescue Bakugou and added, "Did they learn infiltration tactics?"

Karasuma nodded. "There were actually a few instances in which the children practiced the tactics they were taught against enemy assassins and a couple of those were actually rescue missions for kidnapping or information retrieval."

Aizawa just stared at him. This was ridiculous. They were middle schoolers. Aizawa was still regularly shocked that his _high schoolers_ had had to deal with real villains, he can't picture middle schoolers defending their lives against assassins.

"Is there anything else those kids did? Stole government secrets? Flew to space and fought aliens? Opened a ramen restaurant?"

There was a long pause.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You aren't telling me they actually did those things..."

"Well, there weren't any aliens…" Karasuma wouldn't meet his eyes.

Hizashi would have laughed at the incredulous look Aizawa was making right now. "Explain."

"Okay, so, near the end of the year there was some scientific debate among the class as to whether or not Korosensei would actually blow up in march, so they snuck into a government lab and got information, which they then decided they needed to test, so they stole a rocket and a few students, Nagisa of course being one of them, went into space. The ramen shop was during a student festival. They used natural ingredients found on the mountain their classroom was located on and even got a popular food blogger to rate them well. They were the highest rated booth at the festival that year."

Karasuma glanced up at the teacher whose head was now buried in his hands. It was probably not what the hero had been expecting to learn when he asked about Kunigigaoka. Karasuma sympathized with him a bit; it had been a crazy year.

Aizawa finally heaved a sigh and lifted his head. "Fine. Okay. Sure, whatever. No wonder Nagisa passed the hero exam."

"I admit it is a lot."

"Yeah no kidding." He sighed once more and looked to the ceiling as if it could make things make sense again. He shook his head and got to his feet. "Well, if that's all, I thank you for meeting with me. I've certainly learned a lot."

Karasuma stood as well, walking Aizawa back to the elevator bank. "I hope that all helps you in figuring out how to deal with Nagisa. He's a good kid, I have no doubt that he could be a great hero."

Aizawa nodded. He would have a lot to think on. 

As the elevator took him down, he sighed one last time. He was going to have to drastically change Shiota's training if this was the kind of stuff he was used to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!


	7. A New Ally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaminari asks some questions and Nagisa is just so tired of keeping secrets.

Nagisa flopped onto the dorm couch with a sigh. It had been a long day. Remembering how often in sparring he went for a killing blow just made it even longer. He was trying to get away from being that kind of person, and yet every single time he just falls back on murder. Nagisa groaned; his mom would probably be proud.

 

Someone lifted up his legs and sat down at the end of the couch. Nagisa turned onto his side and brought his knees up to give more room.

 

"So like, I know we never talk about it," Kaminari started, looking over at his classmate. "But… why do you always go for the lethal shots?" He gave a tense sort of smile, as if expecting Nagisa to react violently, but still hoping for an answer.

 

Nagisa sat up with a deep sigh. "It's just how I was taught to fight. Get the upper advantage and incapacitate your opponent as quickly as possible." It wasn't _technically_ a lie. A bit of omission and half-truth, sure, but not _really_ a lie.

 

"Yeah that makes sense but I mean, why _kill_? Why not just go for knocking them out or tying them up? Hitting their pressure points and cutting tendons…" Kaminari looked away and ran a nervous hand through his hair. "Im not trying to like accuse you of anything, I'm just saying. I mean, yknow, theres a couple of steps before murder, why not try those?" He throws a quick glance at Nagisa, checking his reaction. Maybe making the murder-happy classmate mad was not his best idea….

 

Nagisa stared at Kaminari, face unreadable but mind whirling with possible excuses and explanations that wouldn’t implicate him as a villain-by-heritage.

 

"Sorry, uh. You don’t have to answer that," Kaminari looked down, chagrined. "That was a personal question."

 

"Its alright. Its understandable." Nagisa gently smiled at him. The questions may have made him uncomfortable but he didn’t want to lose a friend over them when it was a perfectly reasonable thing to ask. "I… hmm, how do I put this… I wasn’t exactly raised with… normal standards."

 

Kaminari stared at him, already lost. "What do you mean by that?"

 

Nagisa sighed. "Well, my family wanted me to be tough and strong and dangerous, so they raised me like that."

 

"But why did they raise you to kill to show strength? Like, from what we've seen Bakugou was raised like that too, and I mean, sure he tells people to die a lot but I don’t think he actually means it or could do it…"

 

Nagisa barely held in another sigh - being roundabout was so exhausting. He looked over at Kaminari, closely watching for the reaction he knew his next words would cause. "Because my parents are killers Kaminari. It's in my blood. The rumors are correct."

 

It took a second to sink in. Nagisa watched guardedly as Kaminari's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened.

 

"Whaaa…" he breathed out. He blinked a few times to try and focus. "Your… parents. Are… villains?"

 

Nagisa really didn’t want to be having this conversation. Why did he open his mouth, why did let it get this far? _Why was he going to keep talking about it?_ He faced forward and brought his knees to his chest, defensive.

 

"Yes, they are. Both my dad and mom are part of a gang and he works as their getaway driver while my mom is a grifter and thief. Their lives are dangerous but lucrative and once I was old enough to understand and follow orders, they inducted me into their gang. I've been working for them in my spare time since I was young. I've never liked the way they've done things, but it was only recently that I decided to really rebel and become a hero."

 

Silence grew between them and Nagisa remained facing forward, all but hiding his face in his knees. He didn't want to look over - didn't want to see the horror and disgust on Kaminari's face. Couldn't face the betrayal that was sure to be there.

 

He mentally sighed. He was just starting to make good friends here… why did he have to ruin it with his past? Why did his family have to ruin every good thing that happened to him? _Why wasn't Kaminari saying anything?_

 

Nagisa heard a sniffle. Then a hiccup. He blinked and looked over at the other boy. Tears streamed down Kaminari's face as he looked at Nagisa.

 

"Uh, are you okay Kaminar--" Nagisa cut off abruptly at the sudden hug he was pulled into.

 

"That's so _awful,_ Nagisa! Goddamn, no wonder! You've probably had to kill to _survive_ with that kind of childhood! I'll never ask about it again, but if you ever wanna talk about it I'm here, I promise!" Sparks stung his cheeks where Kaminari pressed Nagisa's face to his neck, and there was distinct static on his clothes, raising his hair.

 

"Mmphhgmmgph," he tried to say.

 

"Shhh, it's okay! I've got you now! Nothing is ever gunna hurt you! I'll get the whole gang on it and we'll make sure everything is okay!"

 

Nagisa squirmed in his arms. Kaminari just held even tighter.

 

"MMMPH!" Nagisa tried again.

 

"No! Don't struggle! It's okay to accept help sometimes!!"

 

"Uhh… Why are you suffocating Nagisa?" Glancing with his only not-squished eye over Kaminari's shoulder, through their hair, Nagisa saw the blurry form of Shinsou standing behind the couch.

 

Kaminari responded, clearly still bawling, "I can't tell you it’s a tragic backstory secret! But just know that it's sad and important and we all need to show Nagisa support!" His arms somehow tightened their hold and Nagisa whined.

 

"Okay, sure, whatever. But I'm pretty sure that squeezing the life out of Nagisa isn't exactly the helpful support he needs."

 

"I'm giving him a friendly hug, not squeezing the life out of--"

 

"MRRHRRNNG!" Nagisa feebly struggled again.

 

"Oh, maybe I am." Kaminari finally let go. Nagisa immediately flopped backwards and gasped for breath.

 

"Aaanyway, I'm going to put these dishes up. Have fun with your tragically friendly hug-fest."

 

Shinsou walked away, Kaminari calling after him, "It's not tragically friendly! My friendship is not tragic!!"

 

"I don’t think he's listening Kaminari," Nagisa whispered.

 

Kaminari focused back on the half-dead boy in front of him. "Hey, are you okay, though?"

 

Nagisa sat up. The look of genuine concern on Kaminari's face, plus the tear-tracks that were still visible, made his heart squeeze. Nagisa smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you, Kaminari. I really appreciate your concern and…" He looked down. "I'm very glad that you still want to be my friend."

 

"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?!"

 

Nagisa just shrugged. "Either way, thank you."

 

Kaminari grinned back at him, "No problem, man! Anytime!"

 

"Uhm," Nagisa began.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"I am glad that you don't have an issue with my past, but I don't know what the others would say, so… could you, um."

 

"Keep this all a secret?"

 

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I know it's a lot to ask."

 

"Not at all! My lips are sealed!" He made a zipper motion across his mouth. "Your secret's safe with me." He smiled even more at Nagisa, and Nagisa couldn't help but return it.

 

"Thanks, Kaminari."

 

Kaminari just chuckled before turning and grabbing some tissues to wipe his face. "Hey,"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Wanna play some video games and forget about hero stuff for a while?"

 

Nagisa's whole face scrunched up with the force of his smile. "Absolutely!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!


	8. When Respect Crumbles Away: A Falling Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sparring match to get a friend out of their head turns real frustrating real fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some possibly needed context: Nagisa wins that first fight between him and Bakugou from Ch. 4. Bakugou refuses to accept it and keeps demanding rematches. Nagisa keeps winning (not always but often enough) and eventually respect grows between the two. When the dorms pop up they start doing regular sparring sessions at 8 pm every day. It's a good de-stresser lol
> 
> These good boys may be ooc and i apologize for that. Ill maybe probably eventually fix it lol. Like ive said, theyre sketches :P
> 
> Thank you! Enjoy!

{{After Nagisa and Aizawa talk privately one day, Nagisa promises to try _even harder than before_ to not kill. This leads to him struggling with combat in classes and being more in his head than usual as he tries to figure out how best to combat his homicidal habit and what his fighting strategies should be now. It's very obvious to the class that something is going on with him, but in typical Nagisa fashion, he hasn't told them anything so they're clueless.}}

 

Nagisa sits on the common room couch, lost in thought wondering if it's actually possible to take the murder out of an assassin. He'd been sitting there for at least an hour when he's jolted from his brooding by a gym bag being tossed onto his lap. Bakugou, already dressed for a workout, stands scowling before him.

 

"Don’t just look at me, get dressed!" he ordered.

 

"Why?"  
 

"What do you mean 'why'? We're gunna spar, dipshit! It's 8 o'clock at night, what else would we be doing?"

 

Nagisa processed this slowly, blinking at the blonde as he took in the words.

 

"Oh my god, just fuckin get up and get dressed already!" He grabbed Nagisa's shirt collar and hauled him onto his feet. "I don't have time for this shit, Blueberry."

 

Bakugou all but dragged Nagisa to the dorm gym and shoved him in the locker room. "Hurry up!"

 

Nagisa blinked away the sudden change of scenery and hurried to comply. A few minutes later he stepped into the large gym, walking to meet Bakugou on the mats.

 

"Hurry up and stretch, I wanna get going already!"

 

Nagisa nodded and knelt into a few lunges. He shook his arms out quickly and fell into a stance facing Bakugou.

 

He smirked, "Fuckin' finally Blueberry, took you long enough." Bakugou took up a stance as well.

 

"Quirks?" Nagisa asked.

 

"Nah."

 

"Okay," and before he had finished speaking, Bakugou was flying towards him, gearing up for a kick.

 

Nagisa dodged with a step back. He grabbed Bakugou's leg and twisted it. Bakugou moved with the momentum, spinning in the air, landing a surprise kick to Nagisa's face.

 

"Oof!"

 

"C'mon, Blue-haired Bitch! Get serious!" Bakugou was on him, punches flying.

 

Nagisa quickly distanced himself, then used Bakugou's extended arm as a platform to flip himself behind the boy. He reached up, grabbing Bakugou's neck in a chokehold.

 

_Heroes don't kill._

 

Nagisa let go quickly, shame rose in him as he remembered his promise to do better. He kicked Bakugou forward, throwing off the boy's balance and buying himself a few seconds to think.

 

Bakugou swung around growling, "What the fuck are you doing, Blueberry? I said 'Get Serious'!!" Even without explosion propulsion, he was insanely fast and he kicked _hard_. Nagisa still hadn't come up with a way to win without "killing". There was no time to plan. The kick hit him square in the side. He fell hard, Bakugou right behind, pinning him to the ground.

 

Nagisa tried to squirm away or flip him off; Bakugou merely tightened his grip.

 

"I yield," Nagisa said. Bakugou squinted at him, disbelieving, but he got off and readied another stance.

 

"Again."

 

Nagisa got up, stretched his side out, and nodded.

 

\-----

 

They went round after round after round. Bakugou was beyond _pissed_.

 

What was supposed to be a typical sparring session to blow off steam and distract Blueberry from whatever was going on in his head had turned into him throwing Nagisa around like a rag doll. It was _infuriating_. The damn Blueberry was one of maybe 3 students in class who could beat him in a fight, and was the only one who could do so consistently, no matter if he was using his quirk or not. The Blue Bitch knew people's vital weaknesses and he went for them like a goddamn viper.

 

There was always this burst of adrenaline that came with finding Nagisa's weapons at his throat again and it was intoxicating - Bakugou practically lived for it at this point. There was nothing more heady than a life-or-death situation and Bakugou had always been too good to let a fight get far enough to feel it (aside from that one time with the slime guy... or the time when he was kidnapped... but those didn't count goddamn it!). Finding a sparring partner who could get him to that point often was _amazing_. Being at the end of Nagisa's killing blows, feeling that adrenaline burst… these fights had taught him more about pushing his limits and winning with anything he had left than that Lazy Scarf Fucker had taught him all year.

 

So seeing Nagisa not even putting up a proper fight made Bakugou feel more pure rage than he had felt in a long time.

 

"Get the _fuck_ up, Blueberry! What the fuck is going on? Are you dead? Are you even trying? Because it clearly doesn’t feel like it you Blue _Fuck!_ Fucking FIGHT ME ALREADY!" He managed to tackle Nagisa in to the ground and pin him down _again_ , and with that, Bakugou was officially done.

 

\-----

 

"Fuck this," he said. Bakugou pushed up off of Nagisa, stormed across the room and grabbed his towel and water bottle. Nagisa struggled to sit up. Bakugou never held back, especially against an opponent he respected, and Nagisa had been losing fights against him for the better part of two hours now. He was basically just one big bruise at this point.

 

"Bakugou, wait," he called out.

 

Unexpectedly, he did. He didn't turn to look at Nagisa, but it seemed he was willing to at least hear him out, and that's all he could ask for.

 

"I _am_ trying, Bakugou, I swear. Please believe me, I'm not trying to insult you, or anything like that, I'm just trying to be a better hero," Nagisa pleaded with him. He could feel tension in the air that suggested if he let things end like this then their friendship would end as well. He didn't want that.

 

Bakugou finally turned to glare at him. "A better hero?" he said incredulously. "Heroes give every fight their _all_ because they know people's lives are on the line. Heroes are willing to die fighting. Heroes are willing to _kill_ if it means protecting civilians. What you just showed me wasn't heroic. It was _pathetic._ " Nagisa flinched. Bakugou kept going, "Fuck off with 'not trying to insult me' - if that was your goal you _failed_. I have never felt more underestimated and offended than I was by your pathetic excuse for a fight!"

 

Nagisa gasped and bowed his head, hurt and ashamed. "Bakugou, I--"

 

"I don't want to hear it." The rage was out of his voice, Bakugou just sounded resigned. "Until you get your shit together and start fighting seriously again, I'm fucking done with you."

 

Nagisa squeezed his eyes shut and winced when he heard the door slam shut - his former friend had left without another word.

 

Nagisa sat on the mats, aching all over, eyes screwed tight to keep the tears from falling. Bakugou was the closest thing he had ever found to acceptance outside of Class E. Bakugou was going to be a hero - a great one! - and he had never minded knowing that Nagisa could kill. Had never minded how close he came to death when they sparred. He never made Nagisa feel stupid and wrong for trying to be something so outside his experience and skillset. He could be just as violent as Nagisa and _he_ was going to be a hero, why couldn't Nagisa do it too?

 

Bakugou was like a louder, ruder version of the person Nagisa wanted to be. It was validation of the highest form, being Bakugou's acknowledged equal…

 

Hearing that acknowledgement shatter and that equality die as Bakugou walked away… Nagisa wouldn’t have felt so much pain if Bakugou had just literally shot him in the chest.

 

It took a long time for Nagisa to finally pick himself up and stumble back into his room, wishing he could re-do the whole thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!


	9. Musutafu Roommates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> UA is a bit far to commute from home, so Nagisa decides to move in with Karma's cousin who just found a new place in Musutafu. What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Let me just say first of all, THANK YOU EVERYONE! Your kudos and comments fuel me and have motivated me to write more! Y'all are great and make me so happy!!
> 
> Note: I'm still working my way through a reread of both series so I apologize for any ooc-ness.
> 
> Please enjoy! :D

  * (AU context: imagine that Stain was preaching his ways to back-alley villains and like, internet forums. Toga and Dabi found each other through Stain’s teachings and decided to band together and rent a place together, which is great for 17 year old Toga, who just ran away from home, and 20-something year old Dabi who’s getting real tired of sleeping on people’s couches. They’re not really friends, but they aren’t enemies.)



 <><><><><>

"And we can find some old dresser somewhere so you can have a place to put all your stuff! Y'know, since you won't really have a room. Oh! But don’t worry, the couch is super-duper comfy, trust me, I've slept on it plenty of times! Oooh, we should figure out where your stuff is going in the bathroom: left side, right side, under the sink, in the mirror... There are so many options! Oh, I'm so excited: little Nagi-chan is coming to live with me~!" Toga threw her arms around Nagisa, who had to quickly adjust so they didn't fall down the stairs.

 

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it Himiko-nee. Thank you for letting me stay here, really."

  
"It's no problem, Nagi-chan! How could I ever let my cousin's bff live all cold and hungry on the streets?" She gave him a quick squeeze and then flounced away to open the door. "Ta-daaa~!"  
 

"Thank you, Himik--"

 

"Oh? Who's this?" Nagisa looked into the apartment to see a horribly scarred man in a tank top and too-short pants walking across the living room.

 

"Ah, hello. You must be Dabi, I'm Nagi--"

 

"This is Nagi-chan! He's going to be living with us while he goes to school," Toga finished for him.

 

"Oh?" Dabi raised a brow. "Alright. And what school are you going to kid?"

 

"Uhm," Nagisa reflects on the fact that Dabi is probably a villain, since Himiko-nee is, and would most likely not want to live in the same house as a hero student. "I, uh..."

 

"Nagi-chan's going to UA! He's going to be a hero!" Himiko announces with enthusiasm and a surprising amount of pride. Nagisa and Dabi stare at her in shock.  
 

"I'm sorry, he's what? I don't think I quite heard you right," Dabi said.

 

"He's a hero!" She repeated, taking the box from Nagisa and waltzing into the apartment.  
 

"And why, exactly, did you invite a hero student into our lovely home?" Dabi feigns a casual attitude.

 

"Because," she said, setting the box down on the couch, "Nagi-chan's a family friend, and he needed help so I helped him!" She faced him with a challenging stare. "Do you have a problem with that?"

 

"...Are you kidding me?" He promptly loses any hint of calm. "' _Do I have a problem with that?'_ Of course I have a problem with a _hero_ student living here!" Dabi glared right back at her, incredulous that she wasn't understanding the issue here. "I'm a villain. This is my fuckin livelihood, I don’t need to be living under the same roof as some goody-goody-two-shoes who'll throw me to the cops as soon as he learns it'll get him extra credit!"  
 

"Nagi-chan wouldn't do that! He's not like that!"  
 

"Oh really? And I'm just supposed to believe that?"

 

“Yes! Because I said so!!”

 

"Why the hell would I believe you just because you said so?"

 

Nagisa watches as they come toe to toe, glaring at each other as tensions rise. He looks around but there's nothing he can use to get their attention and break their focus. Toga reaches for the knives on her thighs and Dabi's hands move out and catch fire. They haven't broken eye contact or stopped yelling.

 

"I believe in what Stainy says just like you do! I wouldn’t bother with a stupid selfish hero! Nagi-chan's not like that!"

 

"I don’t give a fuck if he's Stain's _wet dream_ , he's still a goddamn _hero_ and I refuse to live with him!"

 

"Well I pay half the rent here too, so I get a say in who stays and who goes--"

 

"Yeah and _so do I_!"

 

"Well I'm the one who found this place so--"

 

"Oh don't give me that! I'm the one who signed the lease!"

 

"But I had to cover your rent for the first month--"

 

"And I covered your ass when the guys you stole it from came looking--"

 

"I could've handled myself!"

 

"Oh sure you coul-

 

**_*CLAP*_ **

 

There was immediate silence. Dabi and Toga froze, stunned. Nagisa walked between them and pushed them away from each other. Dabi's hands extinguished and Toga let her hands fall to her sides.

 

"That's enough." Nagisa turned his head toward Toga. "Himiko-nee, I appreciate you defending me, but this isn't worth losing your apartment or your friendship with Dabi. If he doesn't like me, then he can deal with me himself." Nagisa turned his head to face Dabi. "You don't like that I'm a hero student. I get it. But if you can't deal with an unlicensed hero high schooler, then frankly I don’t see why _I_ need to worry about you at all."

 

Dabi glared at his insinuation.

 

"If you need me to pay part of rent, or for food or something, as a compromise, then fine. I will. But we're all in the same boat here. We all need a place to stay, and we all want the authorities off our backs and out of our pasts." Nagisa kept eye contact with Dabi and stepped out from between them. He held his hand out to the man. "I won't rat you out if you won't rat me out. What happens in here, stays in here. Deal?"

 

Dabi considered the boy warily. He didn't look like much, and there wasn't anything noticeable that would explain why a hero student needed shelter from authorities. But he had felt the strength the boy had when he separated them, and most students just out of middle school weren't exactly financially able to support rent. Something wasn't normal with this kid...

 

Dabi smirked and grabbed the offered hand.

 

"Sure," he said. Then he activated his quirk enough so his palm would be just hot enough to sting.

 

Nagisa let out a small gasp, but quickly suppressed it and stubbornly kept eye contact as they shook.  
  
Dabi's narrowed his eyes. This kid was going to be a pain in his side, wasn't he? No matter what kind of "deal" they struck, Dabi wasn't about to blindly trust a hero wannabe, especially one with some kind of dark secret.   
  
"Yay! Nagi-chan is staying!!" Toga tackled Nagisa with a hug, and Dabi left, promising to himself he'd never let his guard down around Nagisa.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!


	10. The Akabane-Toga Family Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I create a family tree to explain how Karma and Himiko are cousins, figure out what Nagisa's mom's quirk is and also list some other fun facts about the families.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all!! Thank you all so much for reading and kudosing and commenting and all of that! It's a great reminder to keep writing this au and is super appreciated, especially since the format for this semi-fic is very weird lol. 
> 
> Anyways! Hopefully this chapter will answer some questions, and if it creates some too please don't hesitate to ask them in the comments - I'm sure they'll help me flesh out the world some more! Also i just like knowing what yall think of it lol
> 
> Enjoy! :D

[Image ID: A family tree; the top two boxes are joined by a dotted line to indicate marriage. One box says “Grandfather - Blood Manipulation” and the other says “Grandmother - Shapeshift into anyone she sees, can even change fabric of clothes to match the copy”.  
  
Below those two, there are 4 boxes, the two in the center are connected by a solid line to each other and to the dotted line of the top row, while the outer two are connected to the inner boxes by dotted lines. From left to right the boxes say: “Akabane Hiroyuki - Quirkless” married to “Akabane Ayumi - Partial shapeshift from sight for short amounts of time (has a high energy cost)” who is the sister of “Toga Michiko - Shapeshift into the last person she touched” married to “Toga Seji - Steal a person’s energy with skin-to-skin contact”.  
  
The last row has two boxes, each connected to one married couple through a solid line. From left to right: “Akabane Karma - Change the color of his hair, eyes, and nails at will” and “Toga Himiko - Uses the energy from drinking someone’s blood to sustain shifting into them”. End ID]  
  


 Fun Facts:

  * Toga is the Grandmother’s surname, which the Grandfather decided to adopt. Similarly, Michiko’s husband Seji married into the Toga name. Ayumi broke tradition by taking her husband’s name Akabane.  
  

  * Grandmother’s power is a little strong, huh… do you think she took advantage of being able to copy whatever clothes she was wearing into any other outfit? _Absolutely_. This is not a family that cares overly much about following the spirit of the law and buying clothes properly for every outfit she wants. But, the clothes would revert back to their original state when separated from her.  
  

  * By the time of the present story, when Himiko is 17, both her grandparents are dead and she hasn’t seen her aunt in many years, since they moved away in the middle of Karma’s second year of middle school (the massive life change was part of the reason he reacted so harshly to the school’s twisted system and got himself placed in E class).  
  

  * Karma and Nagisa have known each other since they were about 5 years old, and they grew up playing with big sis Himiko-nee (who was only 2 years older) while their parents socialized and plotted gang business.
  * When he was younger, Karma couldn’t control his colors very well, so his colors were often changing with his mood and whatever colors his favorite things/people were. He didn’t stay one color for long, but he was most often blonde or blue in the younger days.  
  
-     I have no idea why he settled on red (possibly because he got tired of seeing splotchy blood in his hair? I don’t know... the gang business and how much the kids took part in it is still being worked out lol).  
  
  

  * The Shiota family doesn't need a Family Tree because only the mom, Hiromi, has a quirk: it’s called Rose-Colored, and what it does is change her perception of what she’s seeing into whatever she _wants_ to see instead of what’s actually there (based off the phrase “rose colored glasses” meaning to see something more positively/optimistic than it actually is). When the quirk is in use, her irises turn a soft pink color, though this doesn’t actually turn her vision pink in any way.  
  
Her quirk is mostly passive and unless she wants to know when she’s using it, she won’t know. It’s the epitome of blissful ignorance.  
  
Unfortunately, if someone tries to break her rose-colored reality and show her the truth, she struggles to cope and can become crazed and violent. The more she uses it, the worse she is when someone tries to make her see reality, but since it’s mostly subconscious, she has little control over its activation (and truth be told, she has little true desire to see the _real_ world with all its dirty corners and broken people and injustice and unfairness) so she uses it more and more often and she’s just spiralling further into quirk dependency.  
  
The quirk does not actually affect her other senses, if she hears bad news, then she hears bad news and there’s no sugarcoating it; but because she wants to believe what her eyes tell her so much, she has developed a sort of selective hearing (and selective any-other-sense) that usually automatically filters out and corrects things that contradict her vision. The older she gets, the more she uses it, and the harder it is to use evidence to talk her back to the truth.  

  * Some examples of her quirk in use:  
-     She wants it to be true that Nagisa is actually her daughter, so when her quirk is active that’s literally what she sees and all of nagisa’s protests fall on stubbornly deaf ears. When the people around her (like Class E) repeatedly insist that Nagisa is a boy and she should know and respect that, she can’t handle the truth and starts burning things and screaming in anger;  
  
-     She will often state that she’s not making things up, look at her! Her eyes aren’t even pink! (except they totally are. The people around her learn not to trust her judgement of things);  
  
-     When she was a child and first coming into her quirk, she was given a participation award for a school/class competition… her parents knew something was up when she kept waving the award (which clearly said “Participant”) around, insisting that she got first place and that her trophy was the biggest one there (it wasn’t).  

  * The main reason Hiromi married her husband [insert first name here], and the reason they get along so well despite him being poor and talentless, even within the gang, is because he learned early on how to say exactly what she wants to hear, keeping her happy. He’s not the best looking guy, but really, she doesn't see that at all! He’s such a handsome man, just her type!!  
  
He wanted to marry her because she had good ties to the gang, which was a somewhat stable source of income and protection for a poor quirkless loser like him and he desperately wanted to get into it. The gang’s recruiting process isn’t hard or long or overly picky or anything, but the turnover for new members is kinda high and he wanted to ensure a long-term employment. He got it with the marriage, though, just like he wanted!  
  
He spends most of his time away from home doing anything he can to stay away from his ignorant wife. Sadly this means Nagisa bears the brunt of her quirk-related mood swings when at home. He really wishes his dad would come home more often to get her off his back… It gets a ton easier for him when he moves out to go to UA lol.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, my disclaimer: These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> These drabbles are the writing equivalent to sketches and are subject to scrapping and change and sudden loss of au canon-ity. I just wanted to put them out into the world bc i like the idea and wondered if others might too :) let me know what you think!


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